IT-Ready Apprenticeship Allows Former Retail Manager to Close Sale on Brand New Career

For eight years, Blong Yang worked his way through retail management positions of increasing responsibility and importance. 

Yet despite his successive promotions — and multiple performance reviews saying he had exceeded supervisor expectations — Yang didn’t feel like he was getting anywhere. 

“The work was not satisfying because there was no sense of accomplishment,” he said. “Each position felt like I was going through the same motions, just in a different setting. Each day was different, but the results were always the same. I was constantly moving but going nowhere.” 

While looking for new work opportunities on the CareerBuilder website, Blong stumbled across a listing for an apprenticeship through the IT-Ready program. Like so many of IT-Ready’s prospective students, he thought the program’s promises of a free education and an apprenticeship were too good to be true — but he applied anyway. 

“I figured the worst that could come out of applying would be getting a call or email from someone asking for a payment and at that point, I could simply just say no and that would be the end of it,” he said. “That call or email never came.”

Throughout his eight weeks of classroom-based, instructor-led education, Blong learned the hard technical knowledge and skills he expected from an IT-training program. What he didn’t expect was learning about softer skills that position a person for professional growth and success. 

“I was most impressed with the learning session and activities with (Creating IT Futures Foundation board member and IT-Ready mentor) Paul Cronin because they allowed you to see how you would act and react, and how others would act and react in a team environment,” he said. “There were valuable lessons learned in those activities that could be applied in real-life scenarios in a work environment.”

Read more about Cronin’s work with IT-Ready classes here and here.  

Yang graduated from IT-Ready in Minneapolis / St. Paul in 2013 with his CompTIA A+ certification and quickly secured a paid apprenticeship that gave him the practical experience and skills needed to move up in the IT industry. 

“It is not easy to get into IT, even in entry-level positions,” Yang said. “The barrier to entry is that most companies expect you to have technical experience before they’ll even consider you for an interview. With IT-Ready, I was able to prove myself in a paid internship with no prior technical experience, aside from what I had learned on my own and through the program. That was really the ‘foot-in-the-door’ I needed to jumpstart my IT career.”

Yang now works as an assistant analyst on the tech support team at Securian, where he performs first-level troubleshooting on any hardware, software or printer issues. His goal is to resolve 85 percent of all problems during the initial contact. 

“The skills and knowledge I learned in IT-Ready helped me get off to a fast start in my new role in IT,” Yang said. “It leveled the playing field. Actually, IT-Ready gave me an edge over other applicants because it prepared me in ways other than technical skills and knowledge.”

Yang has nothing but praise for IT-Ready’s instructors, mentors and administrative staff. 

“They know how to get you where you want to go — and they will help you as best they can,” he said. 

By taking advantage of IT-Ready’s offer to graduates of free continuing education courses, Yang has earned his CompTIA Network+, Security+ and Server+ certifications. 

“I can certainly see myself in a senior analyst role and/or possibly as an engineer in IT in the next five years as I continue to learn and grow in my technical skills and knowledge,” Yang said. “IT-Ready made it all possible.”